Microcredit: ‘Sell your children’

Microcredit seems like a pretty great idea — small loans to small businesses or individuals trying to get out of the stifling grip of poverty.

And yet, here we have a report from news site France24, indicating that the endeavor isn’t as benevolent as one would think.

The piece on the “crushing burden” of microcredit (or microdebt, I guess), includes an account from a former Grameen Bank debt collector, Korshed Alom, who was forced into early retirement because he “questioned” the bank’s methods. He says:

“Their technique is to scare borrowers and insult them. We tell them to sell their clothes, that they have no other choice. I’m not proud of myself, but several times, I had even been obliged to say ‘sell your children.’ “

You’ve probably heard numerous interviews with the creator of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Microcredit is a hot concept and it seems sound. To put it mildly, ordering people to sell their kids seems counter to the mission of the bank.

Here’s hoping that this story speaks to just a few corrupt folks in the bank — easy enough to get rid of — and not the overall structure and practices of the organization.